


The one in which Nebula is the one to kill Thanos

by TheHitoro



Series: The AU in which Nebula is the real MVP [1]
Category: All that other jazz - Fandom, Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Idk whether to call this a fix-it, Started as a what-if, Takes place before infinite war, The first in a series hopefully, as that is not what this was meant to be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-25 14:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14979353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHitoro/pseuds/TheHitoro
Summary: In Infinite War, Thanos states that Nebula came close to killing him on his ship. This is the first in a series in which Nebula did succeed, and the what comes after for everyone else.





	1. The death of the Mad Titan

Nebula crept through the corridors of her fathers warship. It was nigh impossible to avoid the guards as well as her brothers and sister of the black order, but if there was a single being in the universe who could, it was her. (Or maybe Gamora but she'd like to think that even her sister would have trouble with a feat such as this). Nebula had left her ship on the last place Thanos' ship had stopped to refuel, (It's one weakness; it couldn't go on forever just like any other ship) and crept aboard behind the backs of the black order themselves. And now she stalked towards his resting chambers (His own weakness, just like the ship, Thanos is just the same as everyone else, as durable as he is). The door would be no hassle to get past; Thanos left it open because no one within their right mind would attack him. Nebula snuck up to his bed and paused for a second to look across his sleeping form. Even now he looked menacing, sleeping in his full armor. Even lying down his chest plate rose up to the height of her own breast. A glint caught her eye, and she cast her gaze toward the gauntlet on his arm, and on it... Her eyes widened as she noticed the infinite stone in it's place on the gauntlet. The power stone, she could have sworn that it remained on Xandar. She shook her head. She'd deal with it after, but first... She took her sword, raised it above the chink in his chestplate, and stabbed downward. Thanos was up in a second, he gripped both of her wrists with one giant hand and threw her across the room. 

"What is this, Nebula? Did you think you'd be able to slay me in my own bed? I knew you were always the least imaginative of my children, but I expected... more from you. No matter, I may as well get you out of the way before my plan fully commences."

Nebula growled at him, opting not to respond as he slid his bulky form off the bed and sauntered up to her. She kept her distance, keeping her sword poised and ready to strike. Thanos gave Nebula an appraising eye before lunging at her. Nebula thrust her blade at his belly, but Thanos pinned her arm to her side, gripped her throat in his had, and slammed her into a wall.

"You never had a chance to kill me, Nebula, it was foolish of you to even try! You should have saved what little skin you have left."

Nebula could feel his hand crushing her neck, however she was less worried about her air flow getting cut off and more about him popping her head off. She was scrabbling for something, anything to wipe that amused look after her adoptive father's face. She doesn't know what happened, whether the gauntlet was made with an imperfection, or whether her cybernetic hand hit it just the right way, but regardless the power stone popped out of it's slot in the guantlet and into her metal hand. She could feel it's energy flowing through her, trying to tear her apart, but limited by the fact that it wasn't held by skin, but by metal. The look on Thanos' face went from amused to enraged very quickly as he took the hand pinning her arm and sword to her side and grasped her fist with it. Immediately Nebula went to stab at his neck but she couldn't get a good angle. Thanos was trying to rip her arm from her body, but this was his mistake. Nebula could feel all the power of the infinite stone burned into her palm, it wanted to be free and it was ready to use any outlet whether that be by blowing through Nebula's physical form or through Thanos'. Nebula refused to die, not now, when she was as close as she could ever hope to be to her goal. With a yell, she willed the power to travel through Thanos' bare hand grasping hers, but it wasn't enough. Thanos could take the stone's power much better then she could. As she felt the stone's energy burning her skin she concentrated, and with all her will pushed the power through both of Thanos' hands, Thanos was able to weather the force of it until the Infinite Gauntlet exploded off his hand. Thanos grunted, trying one more time to yank Nebula's arm from her body, but with a sharp stab of anger as well as pain she sent one more wave of energy coursing through her father. Thanos let out a yell as the power blew him apart. Nebula fell to the floor as Thanos' hand went limp around her neck. The stone still wasn't sated, it demanded it's power be released, giving one more idea to finish her father's life work off once and for all. She opened the palm of her cybernetic hand and pressed it to the ship. The stone, now heavily embedded into the hand, released it's energy throughout the ship. Veins of purple spread around her. Nebula could feel her conciousness fading, but she needed to hold out just a little bit longer. She squinted her eyes, trying to cling to the waking world as long as possible, but it was for naught. With an outtake of breath, she let go of consciousness, and the ship blew apart around her.


	2. Can you really call it damage control when a ship's been blown in half?

The Benetar soared through space at jump speed, the crew getting pumped for the upcoming mission, with Groot playing his game and tuning the Guardians out as much as he was able.

"Alright, ladies and not-so-gentlemen, everyone knows the deal right?" 

Rocket leaned back in his seat and grinned, "Yeah, we're yanking whatever weapon of mass destruction went off over here right out from whoever's been firing its' nose, and we sell it to the highest bidder."

Peter sighed, "Not quite."

Gamora rolled her eyes, "We're scouting out the explosion, and if we find out it  _was_ a weapon, then we will either move in to take it and dispose of it safely, or retreat and call for backup depending on if we're spotted or not."

Peter pointed at her, "Bingo! Any questions?"

"If we succeed in taking the weapon, can we use it on the original owner?"

Peter sputtered at Drax's question, "What? No! We're literally taking it so no one could use it!"

Rocket smiled mischievously, "But Quill, with how much power that thing let off, imagine how big of an explosion it'll make."

Mantis grinned and clapped her hands together, "I like explosions!"

Peter held his hands out in a stop motion, "No! No explosions. Regardless of what we do, this is an in and out mission. We're not taking risks where we don't need to. Mantis, activate cloaking. We're arriving in 3, 2, 1..."

As the Benetar pulled out of it's jump the Guardians were shocked into silence by the carnage sprawled across the void in front of them and Groot's game fell to the ground at his feet.

Rocket spoke in a somber tone, "That's a lot of damage."

Peter looked around at his crew trying to gauge their reactions and trying to figure out a course of action before his eyes settled on Gamora, who was beginning to tear up.

"Gamora, what's the matter? Who's ship is this?"

Gamora let out a long, shaky exhale, "This is the Sanctuary, Thanos' ship."

Drax suddenly let out a hearty and nearly maniacal laugh, "Yes! His defenses are weakened, now is the perfect time to strike. Quill, fetch me a space rig, I will go out to the wreckage and make sure the titan is dead myself."

Peter got out of his seat to stand in front of Drax as he began to walk to the loading bay, "Whoa there, we need to organize a plan of attack first, alright?"

Drax paused to look down at him before continuing to walk forward, simply pushing Peter with his body.

"Alright fine, I'll plan on the spot. You, Gamora, and I are going to head out to the wreckage of the ship to find the source of the explosion, and yes, to make sure Thanos didn't survive. Rocket will maneuver the ship through the wreckage so that we can get back if we run into trouble down there. We're gonna use the cables so that Mantis and Groot can draw us back here in case of an emergency. We're all sticking together just in case any of Thanos' goons survived that shitshow." In a louder voice, Peter yelled past Drax, "Everyone got that right?" After a general accent from everyone and a pouty 'I am Groot' Peter turned back to Drax, "We're gonna do this together ok big guy? After all, you're not the only one with a score to settle."

Drax turned back to look at Gamora, who's eyes were still fixed on the wrecked ship. "I understand, we will assure that not another soul suffers as a direct result of his actions." 

Peter nodded and turned to the rest of Guardians. "Alright everyone stations, stations! Gamora, Drax, let's get rigged up. This is going to be a hot mess, I can already feel it.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments especially motivate me, so do that if you want to raise the chance of seeing more :D
> 
> Also tell me if you see any spelling errors or the like that you missed
> 
> Next up: The Guardians of the Galaxy find a wrecked ship


End file.
